a) Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to sheet product dispensers and particularly to away-from-home type paper towel dispensers with an automatic advance assembly and an interoperating manual advance assembly.
b) Background Art
Different types of single-use paper towel dispensers are available for the away-from-home market. For example, folded paper towel dispensers contain a stack of folded individual paper towel segments that are dispensed through a slot. Other dispensers dispense paper towel segments from a tightly wound paper roll. Such dispensers can dispense paper towel segments from perforated or continuous paper rolls. Perforated roll dispensers contain a continuous paper roll with longitudinally spaced, transversely extending perforations that define individual paper towel segments. In continuous roll dispensers, a continuous paper roll may be cut into individual segments by a cutting device located in the dispenser.
There are continuous roll dispensers which require a user to manually sever a paper segment from the continuous roll by pulling the paper against a serrated cutting blade. Such dispensers cannot control the length of the paper segment dispensed, and are thus susceptible to paper wastage. Another type of continuous roll dispenser is known as a portion control dispenser, which automatically cuts the paper roll into paper towel segments as the paper is being dispensed from the dispenser. In one type of portion control dispenser, the paper roll is rotatably mounted inside the dispenser and a leading edge of the paper is fed through a cutting roller and out of the dispenser through a slot. The paper is advanced manually by a user operating a paper advance mechanism or pulling on the leading edge of the paper roll. When the paper advances through the dispenser, the cutting roller rotates and a knife in the cutting roller extends radially outwards and punctures the paper, thereby severing a paper towel segment from the roll. The dispenser is designed to cut the paper into segments of defined length and only one at a time, thereby reducing paper wastage.
The continuous roll dispenser can be a “hands-free” (touchiess) type, i.e., designed to dispense paper towel segments without requiring the user to touch any part of the dispenser other than the leading edge of the paper roll. Such a design may be particularly desirable as the user is not exposed to germs or contaminants on other parts of the dispenser.
Motorized hands-free dispensers typically have a proximity or motion sensor within the body of the cabinet that detects a user's hand or hand movement. When the sensor detects a user, a motor inside the dispenser is activated. The motor is coupled to the paper roll and advances a paper segment out of the dispenser. Examples of such motorized hands-free dispensers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,772,291, 6,412,679, 6,695,246, 6,892,620, and 6,903,654.
All of the dispensers disclosed in these patents require the user to wave an object or a portion of their body proximal to the sensor which is disposed within the upper cabinet. This may be counter-intuitive and may cause dysfunction if the user is not aware of the location of the sensor and rather pulls on the loose end of the paper towel or leading edge which is distended from the body of the dispenser.